CB- in relation to your first post, my mother is the same way- thin her ENTIRE life, even when she was pregnant. This woman wouldn't know scale shock if it knocked her upside the head. She is now in her 50's and completely disabled. Her doctors (and me) have tried to get her moving, but it is incredibly hard for her. She never learned what it was like to work for her health and I think the older she gets, the more difficult it is for her to grasp that concept- that it won't come naturally forever. With that said, I believe in working through pain and the power of exercise for things like stress relief (aside from weight management). I'm hoping this will serve me when I get older. Have you thought about physical therapy? They can get you doing exercises that won't put as much stress on you. My SO and I also do a begginner yoga class on saturdays and there is this group of older ladies (65+) that comes and whenever the instructor asks us to introduce ourselves they launch into the details of their ailments at the time and they aren't as flexible as say the ballet dancer that shows up, but boy do they feel good afterwards anyway.
And speaking of ice skating- I used to work for an ice arena and we had our senior regulars every day. One, Morris, was well into his nineties and would spend half the session lacing up his skates and the other half skating his one lap. Now, for a 90 year old, that is something. It just scares me to think of what could happen to them. One of our most dear regulars had his pacemaker sputter out on him while he was on the ice and now it makes me nervous when he gets on the ice, but I'm sure he is in better health than most college students I know anyway.
My mom walked and bowled into her 70s. She fell one day while removing the oven door for cleaning. She hasn't been the same since. I'm sorry to hear that your mom is in such bad shape. We are peers. While I'm out of shape and overweight, I can't imagine myself being totally disabled. That is sad for someone who is so young.
As for me, my knees have hated me all my adult life. I have to be careful on my bicycle. I sometimes have to stop and rest if I'm out for more than an hour. I try to use the middle speeds so I don't have too many revolutions nor hard to peddle.
I had my sports dude work on my knees last year. They are still improved from that. It's just that I've started working out and they are just miffed with me for making them work. There are some things they don't like to do. Honestly! Sometimes I think they're more stubborn than my kids were during the terrible 2s and trying 3s!
Stop? We're supposed to stop? Anytime I even get such a though, I think about Alton on the WATP videos...72 yo Alton plugging away with all those young women. What exercises did Stom Thurman say he did every morning before he died? If he still exercised every morning at 100, I see no reason to stop.
My aunt and uncle - who are both in their 80's - walked and swam most of their life. They never did any weight/strength stuff, just the walking and swimming. They are both now in a retirement home. They had their own apt. until they were in a car accident while driving to my uncle's brothers funeral. My aunt fractured her back. They fused it. Then she tripped over my uncle and fractured her back. They fused it. She fell again but only got bruised. Then she fainted and she fractured her back again. They fused it.
I often wonder if she had done weight bearing exercises along w/the walks and swims would she have staved off the osteoporosis to a certain extent? They are both now in the medical part of the retirement home. My uncle was dx'd w/leukimia and my aunt is in a wheel chair (she's afraid of falling again). This absolutely keeps me motivated and intent on exercising and lifting weights forever.
mare - seriously though, my mom has had both knees replaced so now she swims and rides bike and walks. She was a cyclist before and she would not let them graduate her out of physical therapy until she could ride again. She does occasionally have to walk the steepest hills, but she can still ride 30-50 miles.
She finished her first triathlon at 70. She was dead last, but she finished it.
Injuries and aging simply mean you need to adapt your exercising, not stop.
I also plan to stop exercising only due to death. My mother is a head nurse at a nursing home...and from her experience, the people who "stop" moving are in there bedridden and arthritic, with osteoporosis-while many people the same age are out strolling the local walkway every day, and taking water aerobics, etc. There is a lot of truth to the phrase "use it or lose it".
I realize that when I am 80 that I won't be able to do the exercise that I am doing now-but I will be able to walk, do some dancing, light weights, swimming, etc.-and I plan on doing it. Not only for my weight...but for longetivity, vitality, my bones, and basically general health.
You crack me up!
